Artek open for Serbia

On September 20, 2017, an official meeting was held between Director of Artek International Children’s Center Alexei Kasprzhak, Serbian Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Aleksandar Pajic, Director of the Russian House in Serbia Nadezhda Kushchenkova, and Director of Jovan Zmaj Gymnasium in Novi Sad, Radivoje Stojkovic. The meeting agenda focused on cooperation in school training, learning Russian, and exchanging educational methods and teaching experience.

The meeting resulted in a trilateral agreement signed between Artek International Children’s Center, the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, and the Federal Agency for the CIS, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Cultural Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), which, in particular, will allow Serbian students and teachers who study or teach Russian to come to Artek as language volunteers. The agreements will also promote the use of present-day children’s education practices which were launched and successfully tested in Artek.  

At the trilateral agreement signing ceremony, Alexei Kasprzhak said that Artek is open for Serbian children. “Artek projects an image of neighbourliness and hospitality. When children encounter something new, they enrich themselves. I hope that the arrival of Serbian children will make the activities in Artek more exciting and children will live a fuller life,” he said.

Aleksandar Pajic expressed his appreciation to the Russian side for the opportunity to work together with Artek in the educational sphere. “I want to thank the Russian Federation, the Russian House in Serbia and Artek for the opportunity to cooperate. I hope the time will come when we will again be able to study history and remember Russia’s role in protecting Serbia and the Serbs. I hope our relations will remain at a very high level as they are today and have been in the previous years, and I also hope Serbian schoolchildren will bring home great impressions from Artek,” Pajic said.

Earlier, prior to his visit to Serbia, Artek director Alexei Kasprzhak had noted that Artek is Russia’s only international children’s center: “Since 2014, we have received over 2,500 children from 60 countries, including from Serbia. We maintain close cooperation with Serbian teachers, who visit Artek on a regular basis under the partner programs of the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute. Lately, our center has considerably advanced in the global system of children’s recreational centers, mostly due to educational programs. I deem it important to discuss Artek’s educational cooperation with Serbian educational institutions which are interested in our teaching methods and practices and successful experience,” he said.